Lila II
by Kifu
Summary: Second draft of an old story. A mysterious cat-person from a far away land visits New York City, nearly falling into the hands of the Shredder. The turtles save her from his grasp, but suffer a heavy loss in the process. The brothers struggle to cope with their new family dynamics, simultaneously trying to get their guest back to safety without detection by the Foot Clan.
1. Chapter 1

The weather was perfect for a run. Spring was in the air, carrying a slightly earthier scent to it despite the heavy weight of exhaust fumes perpetually hung in the air. The moon was out, waxing graciously towards full, allowing the perfect amount of illumination to see by without being seen. City lights tried their best to fill in the blanks where the moonlight failed to touch, but they didn't reach to the very top of most buildings.

That particular area, above the streets at dizzying heights, the four humanoid terrapins made use of the space. They possessed the means to leap from one building to another with ease, compliments of numerous training runs previous this.

For the moment, they were simply on the move. No words spoken, no ultimate goal in mind. That was, until Leonardo gave pause at the head of the pack. His brothers, sensing his hesitation, likewise pulled to a stop beside him.

"Guys," Leo said lowly. His eyes were focused on something not even there as he strained his hearing and spiritual senses.

"Leo?" Mikey asked nervously. He scanned the cityscape around him, as if he could see what Leo was feeling. Not a single shadow stirred. For the city of New York at the dead of night, it was quiet.

Leo held up a finger to his mouth, his eyes still fixated on what he could not see. "Something's wrong."

"Leo, there's nothin' here," Raph reasoned. He wasn't capable of picking up on the hair-raising feeling Leo had, despite the fact that as reptiles, they had no such thing as hair.

"Not here," Leo agreed, just as quietly as before. "I can't – I can't describe it. We need to go to the docks."

"That's descriptive," Raph muttered.

"Which one?" Mikey asked.

"This way." Leo pushed past his brothers to start off in a new direction, adding a sense of urgency to his pace that the run didn't have before. No on struggled to keep up, but the tailing trio were a little winded when Leo came to another stop. This time, there was no disputing Leo's sixth sense.

Before the four turtles, only a couple buildings half a block away, they watched a swarm of black-clad Foot ninja. At first they stood neatly, as if in wait of orders. They obviously weren't interested in the turtles as their sworn enemies, so something else had to be amiss.

"What do you think they're doing?" Mikey asked, mimicking Leo's low voice from before, as if the Foot ninja could hear him from so far away.

"Whatever it is, it's no good," Raph hissed. His hands already clutched at the sai on his belt, his muscles tensed for action. He felt Leo's hand on his shoulder, holding him back, and he nearly turned on his brother. "What are you waitin' for?" he barked.

"An answer to Mikey's question," Leo replied. "We need a plan of action. They're not actually interested in us."

"For once," Mikey chipped in.

"Yet," Raph snickered.

"There." Just as the ninja surged forward, Leo pointed to the edge of the building. "Whatever that is, it doesn't belong."

"Like something mystical?" Donatello asked, pitching in for the first time since leaving the lair earlier that night.

"I don't think so," Leo replied. "Whatever it is, it's alive. Don, you get whoever it is away from the Foot. Raph, Mikey, and I will handle the ninja."

"Shouldn't I be doing the saving?" Mikey asked. "Ninja in shining armor … just isn't Don's thing."

Leo leveled a glare at him even as he stepped forward to take off across the roofs again. "Don't start with me, Mikey."

In the few seconds it took for the turtles to cross the rooftops, the figure the ninja were after nearly took a plunge off the roof and to the streets below. It appeared as if it was aiming toward the neighboring building across the alley, but it didn't have the strength and training the turtles did. She managed to grab the ledge with her hands, but he body dangled precariously close to death.

Now that Donatello was closer to the one they were saving, he could tell that it was obviously not human. It was small, about the size of their Master Splinter, and similarly furred. Cat ears protruded from a head neither human nor feline, but something in between. Thick fur covered the cheeks, a scratchy fur on the nose's bridge. The body was slender but powerful, albeit not used to the strenuous activity required to get around the city at such an unconventional manner. Its back was curved like a house cat's spine. A bush tail continued down the spine a good length more. Long arms supported the upper half of the body while shorter legs dangled below it. At least, the limbs were long and short in relation to a human. Four stubby fingers and thumb with a hardened paw pad ended the arms while four stubby toes on a cat-like foot completed the leg. No feature gave away the gender of the humanistic feline.

Donatello knocked a few of the ninja reaching for her to the side with his staff, sweeping it along their knees for added clearing effect. Quickly kneeling down in front of the struggling creature, tucking his bo staff away, Don reached for the animal's wrists without contemplating the consequences of its reaction. Claws gripping into the rough surface of the stone retracted, and it allowed itself to be pulled up to safety without a struggle.

Michelangelo stayed to Don's back as he pulled the cat to safety, and he could hear the crazed laughter from his brother as his weapon cracked against sword and body alike. They two were safe for now.

"Hi," Don greeted quickly. "I'm Donatello. But we'll have to exchange pleasantries after I get you out of here." Donatello glanced over his shoulder to get a visual on his covering brother. The casualty count was thickening. On the next building over, Raph and Leo were handling their own crowd. Donatello could prove himself a great asset in a tight crowd such as this, but he had his orders: get the cat away from the Foot. "C'mon, follow me."

Don once again grabbed the cat's wrist, lightly this time. Just enough to get it to respond. Its eyes didn't look like they were focusing well, and it was possibly slipping into shock. Understandable, considering it had been jumped by one of the biggest street gangs New York City even knew. It followed him without protest, able to keep up with him without him adjusting his pace. Michelangelo covered him until the fire escape, and then held his ground to allow Don time to escape.

He slowed his pace once he made it to street level and made sure to keep the cat angled so that his body was protecting hers. His goal was the manhole covered in the middle of the alleyway. "Here, you'll be safe down here," he told the creature.

The cat nodded absently, eyeing the dark hole before it. It dropped from her hind legs to all fours, which appeared to be just as natural. Holding on to the edge of the sewer entrance, it wrinkled its nose and found Donatello's eyes with its large, grey ones. "It smells terrible down there." Either Don was imaging it, or the voice sounded very feminine. English, faintly accented.

"I know," Don sighed. He looked back up to his brothers fighting the Foot above him. "But we need to hurry up before the Foot know where you went."

The cat stared down into the dark hole, the tension of hesitation clear on her shoulders. After inhaling a sharp breath of air, she turned herself to creep down the ladder. Donatello stood guard as he waited for her descent. So far, there were no signs of anyone following, including the trio of brothers Don left behind. Giving her a couple more seconds of time, Don joined her in the sewers, replacing the lid behind him. He touched her softly on the shoulder to announce his arrival on the sewer floor, and gently guided her through the labyrinth of underground passages.

"Do you know why the Foot were after you?" Don asked her. He was rather impressed that she was trusting enough to follow him into the dark unknown, especially consider her lack of speech. She spoke English, and it sounded like she spoke it well. It wasn't an issue of mute.

"No," she said simply. Her voice sounded small. Scared.

Don sighed. He figured it would be too much to ask for a straight answer when it regarded the Shredder. "I guess we'll find out soon enough." He continued guiding her deeper into the sewers, toward home. He would be in for quite a lashing if everything topside was an elaborate stage just for the turtles' demise, but he had a feeling about this one. She seemed so innocent.

"In all that commotion, I didn't ask you your name." Small talk. Help him gauge who she was.

"Oh," the cat replied softly. "I'm Lila."

"Well, Lila," Don said. His hands deftly opened the control panel to access the door to their underground home. "Welcome home." The hydraulics of the door hissed softly as it opened, flooding the sewers with bright light. Lila pulled against his light grip on her shoulder in reaction, hiding as best as she could behind Donatello's shell. Don smiled down at her. "Sorry about that. I probably should have warned you." He stepped forward, releasing his hold. "Come on in."

He walked backwards, watching her as she tentatively followed him inside. When the door started closing on its own, she jumped, but didn't run off. Overall, Don thought she was handling everything quite well. Better than April had when the brothers first brought her home.

"My brothers will be back home soon, after they've taken care of the Foot. I had orders to get you out of there." He gestured vaguely to his home around him. "Make yourself comfortable while we wait. Leo will have a lot of questions."

Watching her without making himself seem creepy, Don made sure her nerves settled down before he started attending to things around his lab. He didn't expect his brothers to be very long, so he didn't want to get tied up in anything where he would lose track of time. It was a common habit of his that he could ill afford, especially with their new house guest.

Master Splinter hadn't stirred from his room. Whether he was deep asleep or in deep meditation was unknown to the young student, but either way he wasn't going to wake up his sensei to let him know that he had single handedly brought in a complete stranger to their stronghold.

Don could feel Lila's eyes on him as he moved around the lair. Every time he looked back to check in on her, she had barely moved from her spot where he had left her. When she sat on the ground, she tucked up neatly, her tail wrapped tightly around all four of her legs. After he returned from the kitchen, however, she had disappeared. A momentary bolt of panic sent his heart into a frenzy. Immediately pulled out of his thoughtless wandering state of mind, he did a once-over of the room until he caught sight of the feline.

She had found the couch in front of the televisions. Her body was curled up tight, contorted in ways that the turtles never would be able to move. She appeared to be a rather fluffy mound, especially since she had covered her face with her bushy tail.

Settling down as quickly as he had worked himself up, Donatello strode over and took a seat beside her on the worn down couch. Leaning against the arm, he grabbed the remote and switched on the array of televisions. He turned down the volume to a reasonable level before scanning the news stations for anything strange. Often times the fights between the turtles and the Foot didn't make the news, but sometimes Donatello worried about it anyway. If any more of the humans found out about their existence, they would permanently have to find a new place to live.

Nothing on the television set satisfied the turtle, so he switched it off, gave a quick glance at the door, and then followed Lila's example and relaxed on the couch. He didn't expect sleep to come at all, but after only a couple minutes, he drifted off into a doze, his head leaning back on the back of the couch and his mouth wide open.

Mikey's voice pulling him out of his nap was made only more alarming for the fact that Don knew he was bound to receive an additional tongue lashing from Leonardo himself. Don jerked himself to an upright position, but was unable to rub the sleep from his eyes before Leo's were upon him.

"Dude!" Michelangelo's voice echoed around the once quiet lair. "That's the most Foot I've seen in months!" He was walking backwards into the lair, but Don could still catch the manic grin across his face. Both Leo and Raph looked to be rather pleased with themselves as well, though Leo was doing his best to smother the emotion. "And we kicked their butts! I bet they all went running home to their mamas."

"Mikey, that's enough," Leo warned. He was still doing a miserable job of wiping away his amusement, and it only egged Mikey along further.

"Why? You were there, Leo. I think we're getting better, 'cause it's never been so easy to drop so many ninja before." His three fingered hand bunched up into a fist of excitement, his shoulders hunched together by his grinning face. "Now that's what I call fun!"

Raph sighed and rolled his eyes at Michelangelo's fun, the high of the fight slowly draining at Mikey's chatter.

Abruptly changing the course of the conversation, Leo locked eyes onto the turtle that had awaited their arrival. "Hey, Don. How did things go for you?"

"Without a hiccup," Don said. "And she's fine."

"She?" Leo clarified. He raised a brow in confusion.

Raph grunted. "Great. Brainiac's got a girlfriend."

Don scoffed at Raph's comment. "Yes, she. They were after a little mutant cat, but she's not sure why." Don wanted to explain the events and details he had pulled together after they split up, but as soon as that sentence was out of his mouth, he knew he didn't have much more to add. From the looks on his brothers' faces, he knew that it was hardly enough to satisfy their sense of curiosity and that he would be bombarded with questions. He would have to answer them whether or not he wanted to.

"Where did she come from?" Leo asked first.

"I don't … know," Don answered uncomfortably. He pushed himself to his feet to level himself with Leo, to give himself more of an equal footing for this question and answer. He glanced over to where Lila was taking her cat nap, but didn't find any evidence that she had been there at all. He hadn't asked a lot of questions, because he knew that Leo would anyway, and he was beginning to regret it, especially after bringing her to their home. Now that she was missing, not that the other three were aware yet, he felt a hard lump of fear form in his throat.

"When I found her, she was panicking, so I thought ribbing her for answers wasn't a good idea."

"So where is she now, smart one?" Raph shot at Don. His eyes narrowed. Don figured he'd meet Leo's contempt, not Raph's, too. Don offered a small shrug. "Ya think snoozin's a good idea when you lost the fu- " Don cringed outwardly at Raph's explosion, partially because he didn't think anyone had caught the sleep in his eye.

Leonardo jumped to Don's rescue as soon as he noticed the prickly brother bristling. Raising his voice over top Raph's angry one, he gave Don a stare of his own. "Raph has a point!" he shouted. In a much quieter tone, he added, "Don, we need to find this mutant cat you rescued, both for our sake and hers."

"Her name's Lila," Don offered, as if her name would put the entire situation back into balance. He didn't know much about her, he did know her name.

"Right. We need to find Lila. Help us look for her. Do you think she could have found her way out of the lair?"

"Hey guys!" Mikey called. The three brothers swung their attention to him. In the abuse against Donatello, all three of them had forgotten about Michelangelo. "I think I found her."

Don shifted to the side so that he could see around Leo to where Mikey squatted on the ground. Throwing a quick look at Leo, hiding a smirk that threatened to grace his face, he said, "Nope, I don't think she could have."

"Smart ass," Raph muttered. Curiosity getting the better of him, he joined Mikey to find their guest. "That's what we were fightin' hundreds of ninja for?" His tone suggested he wasn't too keen on the idea, despite it being well after the fact.

Don cast him a disapproving look and nudged Mikey aside. "Mikey, you're crowding her. She's shy." Why else would she be so quiet while following a giant mutated turtle through the rank sewers?

"Hey!" Mikey shouted. He cried out more from the startle, but also from being told no. One look at Lila, however, and he knew that Donatello was right. "I mean … sorry." He shot a soft smile in Lila's direction, even though all he could see was a furry, light gray mass with blue-grey eyes staring at him. She blinked slowly at his apology, but otherwise didn't move. Don wasn't sure if that was from fear or something else.

Raph was the first to tear his eyes away from the newcomer, his characteristic scowl gracing his face. "Now what are we gonna do with her?" he asked. He took a few steps away from the group and stood with his arms crossed firmly over his chest. "We're not jus' gonna keep her, are we?"

Leo turned so that his side was exposed to the cat, but so that she was still within his peripheral. "I'm not sure, Raph. Don bringing her here limits our choices, but we'll figure something out. We always do."

Don lowered his face quickly out of shame, even though Leo's comment was spoken in a tone far from pointed.

For a while, no one else spoke. Mikey eventually broke the silence. "Couldn't we … I don't know … be friends?"

"What?" Raph barked. He was temporarily unable to comprehend what Michelangelo meant by such a thing. Don lifted his eyes again to look at his naïve and innocent brother, but kept his mouth shut to avoid further embarrassment.

"I think what Mikey's trying to say," Leo tested slowly, "is that we should think of Lila as an equal and assume she's friendly."

"Like innocent until proven guilty!" Mikey exclaimed. He instantly warmed up to Leo backing him up. "But it's friend until proven enemy."

"Any enemy of our enemy is our friend," Don added. While Mikey wasn't usually the horse to back in a race of reasoning, Don felt like he had a good point. Appealing to Leo's goodness with Mikey on his side might pull him out of the hole he dug for himself earlier.

Leo sighed, as if Michelangelo and Donatello had him caught. He turned to Raph, as if he needed the last brother to sign in on the deal. "We saved her, Don brought her home, now it's our job to make sure she's safe and out of the Foot's hands. That's that." Michelangelo added an enthusiastic nod to affirm Leo's statement.

Raph grunted, turning away completely. "I never said I wanted to throw her out." As if his piece was done, or perhaps feeling the heavy weight of his brothers' resolve against his, Raph turned his back on the group and made a beeline for his room. The four mutants left behind were silent as they watched his retreating figure until they heard the distinct sound of his door being slammed shut. He was closed off from their little world, including their not-so-little problem.

Once he was gone, Leo turned back to Lila, kneeling down to her level. Holding out a hand, though not close enough to her so that she could claw or bite it, he offered her a friendly smile. "I'm Leonardo," he told her quietly, "a friend."

This got a reaction out of the oversized cat. She shifted her position, unwrapping her tail from around herself so that she resembled something more humanoid. Although she didn't take Leonardo's hand, as she was unfamiliar with such a gesture, she did give hi her full attention by looking him in the face. "I was listening," she said softly. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Leonardo blinked out of embarrassment. He should have realized that she had human-level intelligence by the way Donatello spoke of her, but he couldn't have fathomed it until he actually spoke with her. She wasn't like the other mutants that he was used to communicating with: his brothers, his Master Splinter, and Leatherhead. Unlike them, she was more like the animal she resembled than like a human. Combined with her silence, he took her as a dim-witted animal rather than a mutant. "I – I'm sorry about –"

"And I'm not a … mutant," she interrupted. Her voice gained a little strength with the interruption. "I'm a _Homo silvestris._ "

Michelangelo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, piqued up: "A what?"

"It's a taxonomy classification," Donatello explained without a moment's hesitation. "Humans are _Homo sapiens,_ I'm not really sure what we are, and Lila calls herself _Homo silvestris._ "

"Uh … thanks," Mikey replied. His voice suggested that Don's explanation didn't help him in the least bit. "You know, I think I'm gonna go … do … I dunno." With the same uncertainty coating his tone, Michelangelo pointed off to his room before turning around and heading in that direction. Once he was a good distance away from Donatello, Leonardo, and Lila, he picked up his pace before quietly retreating out of their view.

As soon as he was gone, Donatello turned back to Lila. Leonardo had never taken his eyes off of her. "Lila, where did you come from?" He expected that it couldn't have been too far from New York City, and for many reasons. She spoke perfect English without a heavy accent, although an American accent was included. And although she claimed that she was not a mutant, Donatello was unaware of any mutant-like cat-humans running around anywhere.

"I don't know," she said. Her voice went back to the weak tone she began with. Although it appeared that she wanted to tear her eyes away from the pair of turtles left, she kept her face held high, continuing the eye contact that was established. "We never had a name for it, but I know that it's far from here."

Donatello silently contemplated that information, skimming over the fact that she said 'we' instead of 'I.' He could have been wrong with his initial inference.

"Lila, can we trust you?" Leo asked. It seemed such a silly question, since anyone could have said yes and never meant it, but Leo had his reasons for asking. Because she was such an uneasy creature, she wouldn't have been able to hide much. In fact, her reaction was as readable as an open book.

She hunched her shoulders and cast her eyes downward out of shame. Although Leonardo didn't know what was going on in her head, he kept silent until he got a verbal answer. After a moment, Lila raised her eyes again and gave him a small nod. "I don't want to cause your family pain."

Leo and Don exchanged a quick glance before Leo returned his gaze to her. "Then you're going to have to trust us." Again, he offered his hand, but it was ignored once again. "Lila, take my hand and follow me to some place comfortable." Even with the open invitation, she continued to stare at his hand, still hunched up in the small form she assumed in the corner. Another small look at his brother, and Leo was able to get Don to coax her out of the corner.

"Come to my room," Don offered. He gently led her forward to the place in question. Leo stood where had been crouching to talk to Lila, watching the pair walk off to Donatello's room before he looked around and retreated to his own. He wasn't sure about how this would all work out, but he was confident that the turtles wouldn't suffer too many damages.

Donatello offered Lila his bed without telling her that it was his once they closed the door behind them, but she quietly declined it. He didn't even have to press for an explanation, as she gave it: she was much more used to the floor instead of a fluffy cloud-like surface. He suspiciously let it slide, as she had taken a catnap on their couch, and allowed her to take one of his pillows and take residence among the many papers by his desk. He wasn't sure about the length of her stay, but if she was going to stay long at all, he'd have to do some serious convincing so she could be more comfortable around the lair.

Once he was comfortable in his bed, Donatello was having a hard time falling asleep. He gave himself a good half hour before he conceded that sleep wasn't coming. He rolled over, resting his cheek on his hand. The light from his alarm clock and the light creeping in from under the door allowed Don's trained eyes to scan the floor of his bedroom until he found the dark shape of Lila curled up.

Thinking that she was asleep, he continued to watch the very slight rise and fall of her sides, as he was unable to drift off to dreamland himself. Still lying on his side, he shifted slightly so that his arm wouldn't become numb after being shoved under his shell for so long, but after that he was still. His mind kept going through reasons as to why the Foot would want the cat. As far as he knew, the Shredder wasn't about to go around and pull together a mutant army. Granted, he wanted the turtles dead, but that was because they had meddled into his business far too much for his liking. What were teenagers for, after all?

At the thought of age, he blinked, his focus once again on Lila's form. He had been given her name, and he was aware that she didn't know the name of the place where she hailed from, but other basic information was currently denied him. For the moment, it was because she was in no state to talk, with her unconscious and all, but he wondered if she would ever give away her personal information anyway. She had the private air around her, although Don was getting the feeling that she was more likely to tell him over his brothers.

He shrugged that train of thought off the rails. His brain relatively unoccupied again, he found himself stifling a large yawn. Shifting again to cover his mouth with his hand, he blinked hard to clear his fuzzy vision.

Lila's ear flicked in his direction at the noisy yawn. Staying still so that he would no longer disturb her, he waited for her ear to relax again, but it did not. Quietly so as not to wake her, he whispered, "Lila?"

"Yes?" Her reply was immediate without a trace of drowsiness. Perhaps he had been incorrect in thinking her asleep.

"You're awake," he observed stupidly. This statement caused her to lift her head up and twisted it in his direction so that her big eyes were fixed on him.

"Yes," she confirmed anyway.

"Are you uncomfortable?" He couldn't help but be concerned, even after their hushed argument before he had flicked the lights off.

"No."

"Am I bothering you?"

"No."

"Then why are you awake?" Sleepiness wasn't becoming of the supposed genius. While he couldn't shut off his brain, it still wasn't working at full capacity.

"Because long periods of sleep aren't typical of my kind."

Before, when she had mentioned herself in the plural form, suggesting that there were more creatures such as herself, Donatello had ignored it. Now that the two of them were alone and calm, the face couldn't be as easily skimmed over. "You mean that you're not unique?"

"Everyone is unique," she rebutted. "But I said that I am a _Homo silvestris,_ and while our species is small, it is not as miniscule as one."

Her vocabulary was quite impressive from what Donatello was gathering but that alone didn't help him. All of her explanations, while short, were begging more questions than answering them.

"How many of your species are there?" Don inquired. He couldn't keep the pure curiosity showing through his voice. The sleepiness had been effectively forgotten after the conversation had become less one-sided.

"There are … four others of my kind," she replied, an obvious hesitation before stating the number. Don briefly wondered why, but he didn't press for an answer behind it. Instead, he simply hinted about his curiosity.

"Four? Are you sure?"

A pained sigh broke from her lips, and Don instantly regretting asking such a thing. "I had three great friends and a sister growing up, but a few years ago my sister fell ill and passed away. It took a while for me to get over it, but … T – my friends helped me overcome the pain. Eventually the tom I was closest to fathered my kits." She hesitated even more here, the panic obvious in her eyes even in the nearly nonexistent light. "A-another one of the toms, he … he didn't like me having his kits and he … we … he's gone now, too."

Don tried his best to keep the suspicion from his own eyes at such a choppy history. He should have been happy that he was being told this information in the first place. As she continued, her voice pitch became higher, and her vocabulary had taken a turn for the worse. Pulling his mind away from the pessimistic thinking, he got to wondering how old she could be again, especially at the mention of having children.

"I don't mean to be rude," he began. He paused, but a blink of her eyes encouraged him. "May I ask how old you are?" She acted like she had been around for her fair share of years, but she had an almost child-like air about her when mentioning her past.

"Seventeen years?" she replied. The rise of her voice at the end caused Don to believe that she wasn't so sure about that. Even so, if that was close to her age, she had been around for nearly the same amount of time as him and his brothers. They weren't so sure about their exact age, either, so he couldn't give her any grief about her uncertainty.

"You act more maturely than that," Don complimented.

Her shoulders shrugged. "I had my reasons to grow up quickly. And I have always been interested in language, though where I come from, new words are hard to come by."

"Are you sure that you don't remember where that place is?"

"If I ever see it again, I'll recognize it, but to my knowledge it does not have an official name."

"Sorry for my nagging."

"It's no problem," Lila assured him. A silence stretched out between them, but Lila never relinquished eye contact. Another yawn erupted from Don's mouth as their conversation settled down, and he was about to drift off to sleep, but her soft voice jerked him back to complete awareness. "The others … like you, do you have a name?"

"What do you mean?  
"I am _Homo – "_

"Ah yes. We call ourselves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." He offered her a friendly smile at this, hoping it'd satisfy her question. He'd never bothered to assign a species name to them simply because they were mutated turtles. It was a genetic anomaly and there weren't a whole lot of them.

"The 'teenage' part won't last forever."

"Well, no …"

He thought he saw a small flash of her teeth at this, as if he had been awarded a smile.

"Does this stone jungle have a name?"

It took Don a moment to figure out what she meant by stone jungle. Eventually it hit him that she was talking about the city. "New York," he replied, "sometimes called the Big Apple or the City that Never Sleeps."

She mouthed the names of the city after him, resting her head back on her front paws.

"That turtle wearing blue … he was cold and calculating at first, but once he talked to me, he changed completely."

"That's Leonardo."

"I don't think he likes me."

Don was taken aback at this comment. He never thought that Leo would have animosity toward any of their invited guests. "I don't think it's that, Lila. Leo's … protective of the family. He keeps a close eye on all of us. Having to worry about your wellbeing as well might seem a little daunting to him right now, that's all."

Lila lifted her head again, though not quite as high as before. "We'll see," she said calmly.

"I won't let him, or Raph for that matter, kick you out on the streets to fend for yourself against the Foot." Don was making a friend out of Lila, and the turtles didn't leave their friends to fend for themselves.

"Who's Raph?"

"The one that was yelling most of the time."

"Oh, him." Lila's eyes narrowed into comfortable slits. "I don't like him."

A smile tugged at the corner of Don's mouth. "It's hard to image why. He may not seem like the friendliest of turtles, but after you get to know him, you'll get to see through his hard-won mask."

"How long does that take?" Lila idly asked. She lowered her head again, one ear still centered on Don.

"Depends on the person, I think. Michelangelo – the friendly, kind of clingy turtle – still is having a hard time finding the soft side of Raph." Don meant it as a joke, but he was sure it went right over Lila's head.

Lila was silent again, and Don was beginning to feel too tired to break it. No amount of conversation was picking him back up again. "You have an interesting family," she finally commented. "It's almost reassuring."

"How so?" It was probably one of the last questions Don was going to ask before he let things slide.

"It reminds me of home," Lila replied quietly. When Don didn't reply, her ear swiveled back to a more comfortable position, but he couldn't tell if she was asleep or not, just like before.

He wasn't sure if his family reminding her of home was a good thing, since she didn't seem to want to talk about it, but he took comfort in knowing that his family wasn't the craziest thing in the world. Sometimes some normality was nice.

The room was silent again save for their hushed breaths. Neither of them moved any longer as sleep sunk its silent claws into Donatello and pulled him to sleep. Even though he had taken a nap after getting Lila to safety, it apparently wasn't enough. An odd sleep schedule wasn't anything new to Donatello. He was known to spend absurd hours in his lab, fighting sleep with everything he had so that he could get a project finished. Whatever the case, he still welcomed sleep when it called to him. Within minutes, his breathing had become more regular and deep, and would stay that way until he was ready to wake.


	2. Chapter 2

The smell of something burning reached Donatello's nose, which was the cause of his waking. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he pushed himself into a sitting position and glanced at his clock. It told him that it was later in the morning, but that he had only gotten a few good hours of sleep. Spinning around so that he could place his feet on the cold ground, he looked to the area where Lila had been sleeping. The spot was vacant except for the pillow that she had rested against. Don searched his room from where he sat, hoping he would see her from there, but she had vacated the room while he had been sleeping. Yawning once to welcome the morning, Don opened the door to the main lair, not surprised at the hubbub that assaulted his ears.

"Mikey, what the hell are you doin', cookin' our food?" Raph's gruff voice demanded. By the sounds of it, he had been looking forward to whatever it was Michelangelo had insisted upon cooking, but his hopes had been dashed once it was burned into a black crisp.

"I'd like to see you try, Raphie," Mikey retorted sweetly. He even went so far as to toss him a toothy smile. He returned his attention to the frying pan, taking it off the burner to scoop the unrecognizable, black pieces onto a plate. Raph took one look at the food, turned his nose up on it, and went searching through the cupboards to find the box of his favorite cereal.

Taking a seat at the table, Don peered at the plate as well, trying to figure out what it was that Mikey had fried beyond recognition. "Has anyone seen Lila?"

"What? The furball?" Raph grunted. He pulled his bowl out of the cupboard with a clink. "Nope."

Don rolled his eyes at his brother, turning to look at Mikey with the same question.

"I haven't yet, but that's why I was cooking breakfast!" he chattered. His voice was less excited, and more downcast with his failure displayed before him.

"Mikey, speaking of that," Don said gently. He gestured toward the plate. "What was it?"

He shrugged, looking around so that he could figure out what to do with it. "If I told you, it would be even more disappointing." Don patted him gently on the shell to express his condolences for the lost meal. He flashed his brother a warm smile as if in thanks before busying himself once again.

"Have the three of you eaten?" Leo's voice cut into the more or less cheery air of the kitchen. Don shifted in his seat, his foot up on the seat of the chair and his arm propped up on the back, to look at him. Raph stuck a spoon in his mouth a slowly lowered it to the bowl again as his answer. Mikey pretended as if Leo hadn't spoke at all and continued to mess with the cupboard doors.

"Working on it, Leo," Don replied for the group of them, since no one else had stepped up to the task. "What's going on?"

Leo didn't move to make himself more comfortable, standing in the door of the kitchen with a stiff posture. "Master Splinter wants to get some practice in before we head out again tonight."

"Whaddya mean?" Raph demanded. The sharp click of his spoon was audible over Mikey's noisy rummaging. "We're gonna be practicin' all day?"

Despite the simmering anger in Raph's eyes, Leo didn't flinch as he stared right on back. The display between them was a common sight in the lair, no matter how much any of them tried for peace. "I don't know if you have noticed, Raph, but the Shredder has something on his mind again. Since we don't' know what it is yet, we have to stay on our toes."

"This sounds more like one'a your ideas," Raph spat, "not Master Splinter's."

"Ah-ha!" Mikey exclaimed softly in the background. Whatever he had been looking for, he found it. Don had zoned out of his surroundings while the tensions were high, his elbow propped up on the table and his head resting in the palm of his hand.

"I don't care what you think about it, Raph," Leo replied coolly. He always had a knack of staying calm when no one else could hold on to their marbles. "This is for your own good."

A cynical laugh escaped from Raph's mouth, followed by the ragged sound of his chair being pushed outward across the floor. "My own good, Leo?" he sneered. He moved to push past Leo, or attack him, but before he could even take a step it was Michelangelo that intervened.

Stuffing a rice crispy treat into his brother's mouth, he looked at him with eager eyes. "Well, what do you think?" he asked. He held his ground, despite the look of outrage on Raph's face. The turtles gave him a lot less credit than he deserved when it came to his emotions sometimes.

Grabbing the crispy treat with two fingers, Raph stared at it like it was some kind of poison. "What the fuck is this?" he demanded crossly.

"A crispy treat. I thought you'd like it 'cause you love that cereal and all," Mikey replied kindly. "Snap, crackle, pop! Rice Krispies."

Don pulled himself out of his reverie and focused on the conversation between Mikey and Raph, surprised that Raph hadn't taken a swing at the youngest brother. It almost looked like he was torn between his misdirected anger and his compassionate side. Instead, he stared at the treat again and eventually popped it into his mouth without an expression change.

"Now where is he?" Raph mumbled around the cereal and marshmallow. He looked over the place where Leo had been standing, but he had disappeared as silently as the shadows.

"Raph, finish up your cereal and do what he asks for once," Don butted in quietly. "Would it kill you to make things easier for all of us by containing your explosive anger?"

Raph blinked in surprise at Don's intervention; normally the turtle kept to himself when sparks were flying. Shaking it off, he tossed himself a weak snarl before throwing himself in his chair again and wolfing up the rest of his soggy cereal that he had poured.

Michelangelo appeared to be quite proud at how his interruption had ended. Throwing a triumphant smirk at Don, he said, "See! I can cook something."

"You're lucky Raph didn't cave your face in," Don replied. Standing up to look over the red masked turtle's head, he gestured toward the pan the treats were in. "Mind if I have one? So it's not healthy, but I don't care this morning." Not that Don really ever cared, with the amount of coffee he went through.

"Sure!" Mikey said. He was glad that his brothers appreciated what he did for once. Scooping a piece out for Don, he handed it over, watching as it was devoured with an expectant look on his features.

"What?" Don asked. He began licking his fingers to remove the sticky marshmallow from them.

"Well, how was it?"

"Like a rice crispy treat, Mikey." Mikey's grin widened as he danced around the kitchen in glee. Speaking of coffee…. "Lay off the caffeine, Mike," Don suggested.

"Huh?" Michelangelo paused, throwing a blank look in Don's direction.

Don shook his head. "Never mind."

Mikey then rounded on Raph to ask him about the treat. Once look at his child-like face halted the growl in Raph's throat, but he still shifted to push the bubbly turtle away from him. Not bothered by the display, Mikey finally found the heart to toss away the black scraps that he had friend and instead munched on the square cut-out of the rice crispy treats.

As soon as the three of them were finished, they exited to the main lair to find Splinter, Leo, and Lila side-by-side, waiting for them. The three turtles exchanged curious glances. Mikey's face still bright, he was the one that spoke up first: "Are we doing the mamba or something? I always wanted to learn."

"Mikey … a mamba's a type of snake," Don corrected. "And the mambo isn't a line dance, if that's what you were thinking." This information appeared to bring Mikey's mood down a couple of levels, as his face became more neutral.

"My sons," Splinter called to get their attention. All four of them turned their eyes toward the rat. He offered them all a gentle smile at their silence. "Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo will train under my eye. Leonardo, you will help Lila learn some basic self-defense."

Raph's mouth dropped a second before it started forming angry words. "You're gonna teach her how to fight?" he cried incredulously. "Master Splinter, we don't even know who she is! Why are you gonna trust her enough ta teach her?"

Splinter retained a passive face at his son's explosion, even though he was disappointed he wasn't seeing clearly. "If the Shredder is indeed after her," Splinter reasons, "she needs to learn as much as she can in order to survive. We do not know how much time she has to learn the skills necessary to fend off opponents, but we must help her to the extent of our abilities. I expect you to respect my decision in allowing her refuge, and if you have further concerns to approach me at a later time."

Raphael opened his mouth again as if to argue, but a stern look from his master caused him to shut it again, albeit angrily.

"Now follow me, my sons, and let us learn." Splinter's voice trailed off as he made his way to the dojo. Mikey, Don, and a begrudging Raph followed him like a mother duck and her ducklings.

Once they were out of sight, Leo turned to the cat beside him. "How do you feel about this?" he asked her. He wasn't sure how well things stood between the two of them, considering the night before. All he could do was hope that she didn't reject him again.

"I'm not prone to violence," she replied smoothly. Her whiskers twitched. "But if your sensei believes that this is what is best for me, I will do what I must."

Leo admired her brave words, though he wasn't sure how she would be able to back them up. "Let's start with finding out what you do know. Have you learned any self-defense before?"

Lila thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head. "I normally run instead of fighting. When I am backed into a corner with no way out, I typically rely on instinct alone."

She would probably be a piece of work, teaching her enough so that she could even think of holding her own against a single Foot ninja. He wasn't sure what Splinter was hoping to get out of giving her lessons, but unless they had months, Leo wouldn't be able to get very far in her training. "Alright. Do as I do." He dropped into a defensive stance. His feet were square and solid as he turned his side to her so that he was showing a small amount of surface area to her. Lifting up his arms in a guard position, he looked over to see how she was doing.

Lila looked over to his positioning, a couple of her sharp teeth visible as she bit her lip. Rising from her four paws to her two hind feet, she tried her best to mimic the stance. Leonardo had to drop his stance and correct hers, but she hadn't done a bad job in the first place. "Now look, I can't push you over," he told her. He gave her a sharp shove to demonstrate his point.

The two of them continued their lesson even after the other four emerged from the dojo. Leo taught Lila the basics of almost any self-defense art. The stance, a simple punch and kick, as well as a couple ways to get away from someone if they grabbed her but did not attack.

"What happens if one of the Foot comes at me with one of those?" Lila asked. Leo followed her pointed look to the katanas sheathed on his back.

Leo drew in a breath. He knew that it would be an important skill to acquire if she was facing a ninja one-on-one, but it was more difficult and wouldn't have come in typical training for a long time. Looking behind him to find one of his brothers, he called over Michelangelo for a demonstration. Once he ambled over to join the pair, Leo explained, "I'm going to attack Mikey – "

"What?" Michelangelo exclaimed. His eyes flew wide and he held up his hands in front of him. "Uh-uh. I just got done – "

"Mikey, I'll be playing a Foot soldier. They're no problem, right? Think of our fight last night."

"I guess …"

Returning to his explanation, Leo decided to start over. "I'm going to attack Mikey, and he's going to disarm me without weapons. I don't expect you to master this skill yourself, Lila, but he'll show you how it's done." Lila nodded to show that she understood.

Drawing a sword, Leo eyed up the tense Mikey before attacking in the most obvious of manners, matching the fighting style of the Foot soldiers of late. Swinging his sword around, he took a step forward so that he didn't have to reach so far. Mikey, ever the quick thinker if he actually put his mind to something, ducked the swing and got in close to Leo so that his sword was obsolete. Grabbing his wrist and forearm, he twisted the katana out of his hand before he could do much else. Once he had the blade in his own hand, Mikey held it triumphantly over his head.

"Hey, Mike," Leo called to grab his brother's attention. "Well done." Turning to Lila, he kept an eye out for Mikey while he still had his sword in hand. "The trick is to get in close so that they can't swing the blade at you," he explained. "You don't have to disarm the ninja like Mikey did to me, but you can use your claws against them as well." Lila nodded, once again quiet. "But … I wouldn't suggest you do it. You'll have to have quick reflexes and a master control over your body so that you don't get cut. You're best off sticking near to one of us or running to avoid them."

"So can we try that again?" Mikey asked after Leo was finished speaking. A crazy gleam was in his eye, apparently still happy that he had disarmed Leonardo so easily. Smirking, Leo nodded, glad that his brother was willing to practice for once. Then again, he had hooked him in by making it easy the first time. Pulling out his other katana, he motioned for Mikey to strike.

"No, if I have a sword, you'll beat me like a little minion dude on the video games." Although Leo didn't exactly know what Michelangelo was talking about, he didn't let it show.

"Try it, Mikey, you might like it," Leo replied. He caught Lila taking a few surreptitious steps away from the brothers, though she didn't take off completely.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to have a weapon." He did have a point with that one.

"Fine, give it back and we can try again."

As soon as the sword was handed over, Leo sheathed it and held his other one still for the split second he needed to decide what to do. He took a little more complex direction with his attack, first feigning a strike to Mikey's left, and then spinning around with lightning speed to Mikey's right. To his slight surprise, despite the expectation that Mikey would make it out alright, Mikey was no longer in the spot that Leo had anticipated. Hesitating for a moment, Leo found his brother again. Dashing forward to engage, Leo's hand was stopped in mid-swing by Michelangelo's forearm. With a calculated kick to Leo's plastron, he was pushed backwards and off-balance. Taking advantage of his brother's blunder, Mikey dealt the last blow by skillfully kicking the blade from Leo's hand.

"Ha! I win again," he bragged.

"Yeah, see what happens when you put your mind to something?" Leo shot back. He held out a hand. "Help me up."

With a dangerous smile on his face, Mikey took the offered hand and pulled Leo to his feet, even going so far to fetch his sword. "Better luck next time, Leo!" he called before skipping off to the kitchen.

Putting the second sword back in its sheath, Leo turned to face Lila again. "Mikey's a show off," he explained. Motioning toward the kitchen, he asked, "Have you eaten yet today?  
"No." She padded over to Leo, expecting that they would head off to the place of many smells together. He waited for her to join him on the way over, and once they were side-by-side again, he matched her pace to the room.

Michelangelo waited at the door with a giant grin plastered on his face. "Do you like rice crispy treats?" he asked Lila.

Her expression was unreadable, but Leo was guessing that the answer was a definite no. When she made no move to grab the food that Mikey was holding, he insisted by waving it in front of her face. She made an involuntary step backwards, her nose wrinkling to display her teeth.

Leo grabbed Mikey's wrist to stop his advances. "My guess … no. Go put them away."

"You don't want any?"

"Maybe later, Mikey. Right now, I need to help Lila find something to eat, and then we're going for a run."

"Oh." All of Mikey's enthusiasm drained away at Leo's tone of voice, and he slunk off to safely put his food away. When Leo and Lila walked into the room, Mikey was rummaging through the refrigerator, shuffling some of the items they had inside. "So what do you like to eat? I think I have some eggs left."

"Eggs?" Lila's clueless expression led Leonardo to believe that she had never heard of such a thing.

"Try again, Mikey," he suggested.

"Okay …" Mikey shoved another few items aside. "Do you drink milk? Juice? Pop?"

"Milk is for kits," Lila explained, as if it was obvious. "Water is fine for me."

Mikey glanced over his shoulder at Leo, his eyes wide. Straightening up, he extended his look to Lila. "What do you eat?"

Lila shrugged, getting comfortable on the floor. Wrapping her tail neatly around herself, she tucked her hands in front of her, much like a household cat would do. "Whatever is around."

"Dude," Mikey said flatly, "that doesn't help."

"You're a lot like a cat, right?" Leo asked. He didn't feel like his inquiry was too stupid until Lila shot him a look that questioned his intelligence. "I mean, you eat a lot of meat?"

Lila nodded. "Yes."

Michelangelo's face brightened at the new information. Turning back to the fridge, he pulled open a drawer. "We have leftover pizza with pepperoni and sausage toppings."

"Mikey," Leo interjected to grab his brother's attention. "Don't think of her as a human, but as a cat. What would cats eat?"

Mikey's mouth made a perfect 'o' at his realization, thanks to Leonardo's help. "Oh," he voiced a few seconds late. "Chicken?" he offered Lila, and held up a plastic bag. A confused look was his answer. "Alright, this is what we have," he eventually sighed, giving up. Taking more plastic containers out of the drawer, he lined them up on the table and opened them up. "Smell what you like."

Lila uncurled herself, padding over to the table and leaning heavily on the wood, sniffing intently at the boxes. Leo watched with amusement written over his face, while Mikey watched with wonder. After a minute of decision, Lila decided on eating all of the ham slices. Telling the turtles that the small amount was enough, Leo and Mikey closed up all the remaining containers and stuck them back into the refrigerator.

Having successfully fed their guest, the three of them walked out of the kitchen in silence.

"Alright, Lila," Leo said. He grabbed Mikey's shell before the turtle could run off and evade him. "This is where we leave you. My brothers and I need to go topside."

"Y'know, Leo, normally I'd be all for a romp in the cool, fresh air, but today I ask, wouldn't our time be better spent at home reading a cozy little comic book?"

"Nice try," Leo said. His response was quick and dismissive. "Don?" he shouted. "Raph?" Donatello and Raph turned away from Don's computer monitor and whatever little project Don was working on. "Ready?"

A slick smile worked its way across Raph's face, his fist landing in the palm of his other hand. "As I'll ever be, Leo."

The turtles left Lila behind with Splinter as they wandered through the sewers, eventually surfacing in a known safe spot. Even so, Leo held carefully onto the ladder supporting the four brothers, peeking through the manhole cover to make sure that no one was around before pulling himself out into fresh air. An audible sound of relief was heard as Raph climbed out, quickly followed by Don and Mikey. Once they were all out, the manhole cover was silently replaced, Leo taking the lead to the rooftops. Often times the four of them had quiet conversations as they darted around the city, but tonight was different than most, as none of them opened their mouths to object to Leo's path of choice.

Mikey's hopes were beginning to rise as the minutes ticked by. Although he wasn't one to enjoy an exercise run around the rooftops, especially under Leo's critical eye, he would much rather have an uneventful run and have Leo crow about it or whatever he did than have to butt heads against the Foot Clan. Sometimes it felt like the guys didn't even have a plan when they suddenly appeared to throw themselves into battle. The turtles kept mowing them down, but they never seemed to take the hint. More so, the Shredder never took that hint and continued to throw his minions at the small group. It was like he knew they were worthless, so he was willing to expend them in pointless battle.

The turtles had completed a whole training run before Raph spoke up, though their feet never stopped moving. "Leo, this is pointless," he panted. Even the fittest of people couldn't go on forever. "We're not gonna find answers this way."

Although Leo couldn't turn to face his brother as they ran, Raph didn't have to see his face with his tone of voice. "I haven't heard any viable suggestions from you." He overheard Raph mention storming Shredder's tower, but that would have been suicide, even if Mikey claimed the Foot were becoming less skilled overall. If that was even the case, the turtles still had their hands full every time they came face-to-face with the Shredder himself.

"I always could try hacking," Don suggested uncertainly. His words came out haggard and breathless. Only Leo appeared to be unbothered by the pace he was setting.

"That's a good fallback plan," Leo assured him. He tried to keep his statements short to quiet the dialogue. It wasn't that he minded hearing their opinions, though Raph's a little less than Don's or Mikey's, it was because he would much rather concentrate on the goal at hand instead of becoming distracted with bickering. His brothers, however, appeared to have a different agenda.

A scowl passed over Raph's face. "Don't hackin' inta computers take time? An' who's ta say that the Shredder's stupid enough to type his plans up. Just 'cause Donny does it don't mean that everyone does."

"At least hacking is safer than barging into a stronghold without any clue as to what we're looking for. Last I checked, the need to find out why the Foot want Lila did not take priority over our safety," Don replied coolly. Before Raph could even think of a reply, Don picked up his pace so that he was closely following Leo and didn't have to talk to Raph.

Another circuit the turtles often ran was finished, all of them beginning to feel the energy loss. Mikey complained, and while Don silently agreed, he figured that it would be best for him to keep his beak tightly shut this time. Much to their glee, Leo regretfully agreed to turn back and head on home. Raph looked a little disgruntled at the announcement, but he kept his mouth shut as well.

After a quick run over the rooftops, Leo eventually slowed their progress so that his brothers could catch their breaths. While Mikey and Don relaxed in the back of the pack, Leo found himself bristling with tension, like he knew something would happen. A glance over at Raph didn't help; the turtle's normally open face was guarded and allowed no emotion through.

Upon reaching the last building of the run, all four of the turtles stopped and crowded around the fire escape, waiting for Leo to move his feet to allow the rest of them down. When he didn't move, his eyes fixed on something in the horizon, the others didn't have to take long to guess what his problem was. Raph, Mikey, and Don all followed Leo's gaze to confirm their suspicions.

"It's nice of them to give us a head's up," Mikey commented. His hands were already holding his nunchucks at the ready. "I mean, it's like helping a fellow ninja out."

Raph emitted a low growl, moving into a fighting stance with sais at the ready. The rumble of his voice was joined with the quiet rasping of Leo's swords being released from their sheaths.

The four brothers didn't have to wait long at all for the suspense to end and the battle to begin. The Foot they had their eyes on quickly covered the distance and threw themselves at the outnumbered ninja with determination. Don and Mikey took the front of the attack, as they had been waiting to unload off of the building last, but that didn't mean that Raph and Leo wouldn't jump in with a fierceness to be reckoned with.

Leo blocked two attacks from separate ninja simultaneously, catching the blades of their tachi with his katanas. A calculated swipe disarmed the two of them. Before either masked man could get away, a less than flashy maneuver slashed both of them across the throat. They'd bleed out quickly so that Leo could deal with the rest of the crowd.

His other brothers were wrapped up in their own circles of Foot, though Don appeared to have the widest berth thanks to his bo staff. Raph and Leo had the most bodies around them, with an accumulation of both live and dead around Leo. The turtle was ducking, spinning, and jumping to outsmart his opponents, and he thought it had paid off in the end when the ninja he culled were no longer replaced. A vertical slash to another Foot's torso permitted Leo enough concentration to shout out to his brothers. Unfortunately for him, before he could do such a thing, he faced an enemy with a skill to match his own.

Leo thought that he could return to his brothers' sides to help them with their fights, but as he made a bloody path toward them, an unseen attacker struck. Leo, already feeling pain from the various nicks and a couple deep gashes from Foot he had already taken care of, didn't notice the acute pain until it rendered him harmless.

Fuzziness began to border his vision and the sounds of battle subsided. His katanas dropping from his gasp, Leo first fell to his knees because of the sudden weakness before falling completely on his front side, his eyes closed as if asleep.

"Leo!" Michelangelo shouted. He dealt a strong sideways attack to a Foot soldier to knock him aside. "Cover me!" he shouted back at Raph and Don. He stuffed one nunchak in his belt to free a hand. Within a couple strides and almost slipping on a Foot ninja's back, Mikey had dropped to his knees beside his brother, flipping him over to find the source of his perilous injury. When he couldn't find anything, Mikey's usually cheerful place became terrified. "Guys, we gotta get Leo out of here!"

"Workin' on it, Mike," Raph grunted. He lunged forward to shove a sai in a Foot ninja's chest. From beside him, Donatello cleared a great number of the ninja away with a strong swipe of his bo.

As if the battle was finished with a clear winner, the ninja suddenly darted away, melding instantaneously with the shadows around them. Don stood dumbstruck for a moment, staring off in a space where he had last seen a man. Raph, on the other hand, let out a content huff and slapped his purple-banded brother on the shell, returning his attention to the present. "Wake up," he advised, stalking past him to their fallen brother. "What happened?"

"I dunno," Mikey replied with fear plain in his voice. "I saw him. He just fell, Raph. I didn't see a ninja get him or anything."

"Move aside," Don ordered. He pushed his way between Mikey and Raph to get a better look at Leo. He quickly looked over the wounds that he had acquired, but saw nothing of immediate concern. He opened his mouth to comment, but snapped it shut when he saw Mikey's expectant eyes, hoping that his know-it-all brother would have the answer. "Help me get him back to the lair," he said instead. He desperate wanted to avoid the falling look on Mikey's face.

"Is it safe ta, ya know, move him?" Raph asked. He stepped around Leo's unconscious body to help Don out.

Although he tried to cover it up, Don's hesitation was still obvious to Mikey. Any hope that he had in his eyes was gone as he watched silently from where he crouched. "We have to do it anyway," Don replied, neither giving a positive or negative response to Raph's question. "And we need to hurry before more Foot show up."

"I don't think ya gotta worry 'bout that one, egghead," Raph assured him. He gently lifted one of Leo's shoulders with Donatello's help. "They shoved off themselves."

"Even so, I need a close inspection of Leo's injuries inside the lair." He slung the unconscious Leo's arm around himself to better carry his weight down the number of ladders and through even more murky tunnels. Mikey didn't say a single word as he trailed behind, slinking off to his room upon entering the lair. "Over here," Don said, and led the way to Leo's room. He didn't have any other place to put the unconscious turtle. The two of them gently laid their brother on his covers, looking down silently at his slumbering face. "Someone needs to go tell Splinter," Don excused. He slid out of his room to seek out their master.

Raph stayed where he was, finding a chair to sit on to watch over his brother. At the soft padding of feet, he glanced up, expecting to see his sensei, but instead saw Lila. "What the fuck you want?" he grumbled.

Ignoring his crude choice of words, Lila passed him so that she was beside Leo. "If this is because of me," she said softly, her voice suggesting that she was holding her own dam of emotions, "then I want no part of your protection. You have welcomed me with open arms, given me a place to live, but I knew from the beginning that this was temporary. My passing should not mean – "

"Don't finish that sentence," Raph cut in sharply. He was baffled the cat felt this strongly about any of them already. He wasn't the most subtle of beings, but he was catching that Leo's injury meant more to her than a hurt friend. Something had happened that she was trying to cover. "Just 'cause Leo's down for the count don't meant ya gotta leave. Let the others decide when they're done watchin' over ya."

More footsteps were at the door, this time belonging to Splinter. He didn't appear to be rushed or very worried, but Lila thought that she could see through his mask and silently excused herself, leaving as quickly as she came. Splinter took his son's hand quietly in his own, looking into his face despite knowing that he'd see nothing there.

"Sensei," Don said lightly, "I need to see if I can find out why this happened." He stood in the doorway with a medical kit in hand.

"Of course, Donatello." Splinter took a step back to allow Don the space he needed, but never left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Things were quiet for the rest of the night around the turtles' lair. Lila kept to herself to keep from bugging her newfound friends, knowing what it felt like to lose someone close. She understood that Leonardo wasn't actually dead, but from the frantic look on each of the brothers' faces, she knew that none of them were exactly sure of what had happened while they had been topside. Fear of the unknown was up there on the list of the worst feelings to have. It was a good thing that the turtles were trained to work around the unknown and still come out on top. If the same could have been said for Lila, she could have saved herself from a lot of grief in her life.

"I've done all I could," Donny stated sadly. He took a defeated step away from Leo's bed. "I don't know …" He trailed off, unable to continue his sentence. His brothers and sensei in the room could guess what he was hinting at. Despite the thorough examination, Don hadn't found a single thing wrong that could have caused the coma.

Raph stared at his brother from the only chair in the room. Leo didn't have a huge collection of things, unlike his brothers, so his room had a minimalistic feel. He had a bookshelf with a various collection of books, both in English and Japanese. He had a small wooden desk with a simple chair to sit at, which was what Raph had snagged. Other than that, he had a simple bed, currently occupied by him. Splinter was back to kneeling on the floor beside his son's unconscious body. Donatello was standing in the middle of the room with his head bowed. Michelangelo had recently take a place in Leo's door, quieter now than he ever had been.

"We've been in worse situations than this," Raph grunted after a long period of silence. "Right?"

Don nodded. "Yeah … I guess we have."

"He'll pull himself out of it," Mikey added with fake enthusiasm. "He's always been there for us."

None of them had anything further to add, so the silence continued yet again. Mikey was vaguely aware of Lila passing by the room to get to Don's room to sleep, but he didn't stop her to say hello or to give her company. Eventually Don kicked himself into action again, but when no one asked about what he was doing, he didn't give an explanation. All of them figured that it was for Leo, since Don exited and entered the room various times. Mikey sidled off after an hour or so to retreat to his room, checking in on his brother between comic books. Even Splinter padded off to the kitchen to fetch himself a cup of tea, leaving Raph alone in the room with Lila.

As soon as Raph was aware of that fact, he walked closer to Leo's side, dropping down to his padded knees at the bed's side. "Hey bro … whoever, whatever did this to ya … I'm gonna make 'em pay. They – "

Michelangelo at the door made him stop in mid-word as he jumped to his feet, pretending that he hadn't been doing such a thing as talking to his sickly brother. His eyes skimmed over the books right as Mikey leaned in the doorway.

"Dude, you can even read the titles of half those books."

"Jus' 'cause you ain't paid attention in Japanese doesn't mean the books are worthless," Raph shot back, though a little uncertainly. No one would catch Raph dead with a book in his hand, so why was he defending them so hard?

Mikey raised a brow as well, but eventually shrugged it off, looking to his other brother instead. "I miss him already."

"You would. Grow up."

This time the look Mikey threw at Raph wasn't one of curiosity, but of annoyance. "I think you're mistaken. It's you that has to grow up to learn empathy."

Raphael blinked at the ferocity that was coming out of his passive brother's mouth. "You think empathy's gonna help us in a fight?"

"How should I know? But we're a family, aren't we?" Michelangelo crossed his arms, appearing quite determined instead of his normally goofy self.

A snort came from Raph, accompanied with a shake of his head. "Sure, whatever ya gotta tell yourself, Mike."

"What? I don't think it's so far-fetched."

"You're an optimist, that's why."

"I'd rather be an optimist than live my life all grumpy like you." Michelangelo knew that a lot of Raph's attitude was a cover-up because he cared for his family, but sometimes even the brothers forgot about that. It didn't help when his anger was often misdirected and caused him to turn on them.

Raph grunted, not coming up with much to cover himself on this one. Mikey, already sensing his win, found his wide and toothy grin again before ignoring Raph altogether. As soon as Mikey's eyes were off of him, Raph crossed the room to sit in his chair again, showing just how much concern he had for his unconscious brother despite the fact that they rarely got along. Nothing would make him leave his side.

Suddenly Mikey whipped around, grabbing Raph on the forearm. A wild look on his face was thrown at Raph before he gaped back at Leo's bed.

Ripping his arm out of Mikey's grip, Raph asked, "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Leo! He just … he just moved!"

"Shout it out for the world ta hear," Raph replied sarcastically with an additional roll to his eyes.

"No really, look!" Mikey pointed with the hand not fumbleing for a grip on Raph's arm again. This time Raph didn't pull away, his full attention now on Leo. It appeared that Mikey was correct.

Leo shifted on the bed, his hand brought up to touch the pillow underneath his head. His feet moved up the sheets so that his knees were in the air, but they quickly slid back down again when Leo got a good look at his brothers. Both were silent, as if they were dreaming and didn't want to wake themselves up. "How … how did I get here?" Leo inquired softly. His voice was pinched and his brows were pulled together.

"Leo!" Mikey shouted. He dropped Raph's arm to run across the room and pull Leo into a hug, even though he was still more or less lying down. "Leo! Leo! Leo! Leo!"

Raph got to his feet, walking over to the bed much more slowly as if in a trance. Once he discovered Mikey's voice wouldn't stop chanting Leo's name, he whacked him upside the head, ending the chattering with a subdued 'ow.' "Ya remember what happened?" Raph asked.

"Yeah. We were fighting the Foot, and they, uh … they wouldn't stop coming. I went to help you, but I didn't make it."

Raph shrugged. "Yup, sounds right ta me."

No one had verbally answered Leonardo's question, but everyone in the room assumed that he had figured it out for himself. However, rather than looking more at peace as he put together the puzzle around him, Leo rolled to his side and brought his legs up to his chest. The pinched expression in his voice manifested across his face. Mikey and Raph failed to notice as Michelangelo jumped around the room excitedly, probably loud enough to wake the whole city of New York. His antics did not go unnoticed by Donatello.

"Mikey, what's wrong with you?" Donatello greeted crossly, poking his head into the room. "Leo doesn't need – " He cut his words short as he finally set his eyes on Leo. "Oh." Rushing forward, pushing past the bouncing Mikey, he squatted down beside Leo's bed. "How are you feeling?"

Leo looked at Don a long while before answering. His jaw was clenched, his brow pulled down. "I'd rather not be."

Worry instantly crossed Donatello's expression. "What are you feeling?"

"Cold." Don lifted a hand up to Leo's forehead and his expression of worry deepened. "And I feel like my stomach is dying. I've been sick before, but the pain's almost unbearable." Leo's voice was so quiet, Don was having problems hearing him at all.

"Do you think you might be able to drink some water?" Don asked. He waved at the brothers behind him, signaling to fetch a glass. Raphael seemed to understand the hint and disappeared in a flash.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut, pulling his legs tighter into his chest. "I'm not sure. I have a dull throbbing in my head … might throw up."

"Donny, what's wrong with him?" Mikey asked.

"I need you to try," Don told Leo, ignoring Mikey. "Where does your head hurt?"

Leo pulled a hand away from his legs and gently touched the side of his head. "Feels … tender."

"Mikey," Don said with authority, not bothering to look at the remaining able-bodied brother in the room. "Grab some cold, wet rags. Leo's heating up and we need to get his temperature down. Doesn't matter if we're cold, warm, or something in-between blooded, this is getting dangerous. Grab a thermometer if you have the chance. It's in my med-kit just inside my lab." Mikey started toward the door. "And Mike? Be fast."

Leo squirmed a little under the covers, his eyes closed tightly. "Donatello …"

"Leo, I'm here." He placed a hand gently on Leo's shoulder, nearly pulling it back as fast as if he had been burned. Leo hadn't a fever while he was asleep. The coma may never have been a coma at all. It may have just been a sedative, and now that Leo's body was waking up, a secondary poison was beginning to tear at his biological functions. The fever and other symptoms he was experiencing were happening too violently and too quickly for this to be natural.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Leo whimpered. He lurched forward to the edge of the bed, nearly collapsing onto his face. Donatello gripped his shoulder to keep him from falling as he emptied whatever contents were left in his stomach. Even Leo didn't have the control to stop himself, he was burning hotter than furnace, and he couldn't even keep the pain off of his face. After helping his brother back into bed, Raphael soon burst through the doorway, glass of water in hand.

"I got it." His eyes passed over the vomit on the floor, but he didn't acknowledge it any further, instead bringing Leo the glass. Leo's eyes were shut against the pain, but he opened them at the touch of the glass to his arm.

"I don't think … I can right now," Leo said so quietly Raph could barely hear. He was trembling all over, either from the pain or chills from his fever, his onlookers couldn't tell. Raph tossed Donatello a concerned look, only to see the expression mirrored on his brother's face.

"Just put the water on his nightstand," Don said. "We'll wait for Mikey to get back with the cold rags before we try that."

"I'm gonna go grab a mop and bucket," Raph suggested. He took a step back, surveying his brother and his pain. He soaked up Leonardo's horrible condition into himself like a sponge, internalizing it and allowing it to fuel his reactions. No one could do this to his brothers and get away with it.

"Would you?" Don asked softly. If Leo was any better off, Raph could have heard the relief in his voice.

"Back in a minute." Donatello was alone with his brother for mere seconds before Michelangelo bounded back into the room.

"Donny, I have the towels!" he shouted.

"Great, thank-you," Don said. He grabbed them from his brother and hovered over Leo for a second. "Leo?" He received a low moan in response. "I'm going to put these towels that Mikey brought for you over your skin to help try and keep you cool. Next to an ice bath, it's the best we can do. Will you be okay?" Leo managed a little nod. Taking it slowly so as not to startle his brother, Don draped the wet towels over Leo's head and chest above his plastron to work on cooling down his temperature. Convulsions ran across Leo's muscles in protest, but he stayed still enough to keep them in place.

"Mikey?" Don asked, turning to the turtle.

"Huh?" He swallowed a look of horror, tearing his eyes away from Leo to regard Don.

"Did you get the thermometer?"

"No, sorry. I couldn't find it. Thought I should bring the towels instead of wasting my time."

"Fair enough," Don sighed.

"So, uh, is he going to be okay?"

"Ask me later when I know what's going on, okay?" Don didn't want to sound too grim, but he was terrified as well. He was far from a medical expert, but whatever was going on with Leo was so far out of his expertise, he may as well have been asked to build a George Jetson type car from scratch.

"Yeah, okay." Mikey's voice sounded so small, almost child-like.

Don didn't know what else he could do for Leo. His brother was writhing with pain in front of him, and from the sounds of his struggles and whimpers, the internal pain he was experiencing was getting worse by the minute. There was no known cause, and therefore no known cure. All Don could do was sit by and offer his spiritual support. Even Michelangelo kept his mouth shut and stuck around.

Eventually Raphael stopped in again, bringing the mop and bucket as he said he would. Just as quietly as the other two brothers already present, he set to work on cleaning up Leo's room. He left as quietly as he came.

Time passed ambiguously. Donatello came and went, multitasking between keeping an eye on his brother and researching ways to deal with his condition. Michelangelo ended up wandering aimlessly through the lair, stopping by often to talk to Leo and try to pull him out of his painful bubble with stories. Raphael sat silently in the chair in Leo's room, watching him with a keen eye. He'd update Don on any changes to Leo's condition whenever Don came back into the room. After his cup of tea, Splinter rejoined his son, sitting next to his bed in meditation. He hoped to lend strength to Leonardo as he struggled.

Leonardo bordered on hallucinations at time. Sometimes he'd sit still, pulled into the fetal position, whimpering. Other times he'd thrash, usually clutching at his head like it was the source of his problems. He'd only cried out loud a couple times, his words completely incoherent. Donatello feared his pain levels were getting worse, but his fever held steady.

"So why's it so important the rags stay cold?" Mikey asked Don on the way to replacing the wet towels.

"I'm trying to keep his temperature down. Fevers are typically the result of a body warding off infection, though what could have infected Leo this quickly is still beyond me. Unfortunately, a fever this high could burn out body or brain functions. We can't draw an ice bath, partially because we don't have any ice available, partially because our unique physiology might not handle the shock well at all. This is the best thing I can come up with."

"If he didn't get bad until he was awake, can you put him to sleep again?" Mikey asked.

Don sighed. "I don't exactly have the tools to induce a medical coma. Nor do I have the equipment to safely monitor him."

"This is, like, the most serious thing we've ever dealt with, isn't it?" Mikey's voice was getting ever quieter as the gravity of the situation set in.

"I'm not sure, Mikey. We've faced some pretty serious situations before. Leo's still fighting with us, so that's good. He's not yet lost."

Michelangelo's eyes conveyed that he wasn't going to take Donatello's optimism to heart. Something about his genius brother's posture and voice clued Mikey into Don's complete loss. His brothers could think they could lie to him all they wanted and he'd never notice, but Mikey was wise to their tactics. He was the brother was the lack of emotional range. The kid brother. He couldn't handle the gravitas. Of course, Mikey did nothing to contradict them.

"Yeah, I guess so," Mikey said dismissively.

Raphael offered an uncomfortable stare as the two turtles passed the threshold into Leonardo's room. He focused his eyes on Mikey specifically. His eyes were bloodshot, but not heavy. When Mikey simply pulled to the side, holding his hands out for the old towels, Raph refocused on Donatello.

"Been quiet this time," he said. His voice exhibited no emotion. It rasped, like he had gone too long without hydration. "No movement, jus' shaky breaths."

"Does that mean he's getting better?" Mikey asked Donatello, but his voice didn't hold the usual hope or trill.

Donatello stayed quiet for a moment, taking his time in moving the towels. He pressed a hand to Leo's skin, moving it periodically. "Too soon to tell, Mikey," he sighed. With those simple words and administrations, Don stood up and accepted the old towels from Michelangelo, then left. The best thing he could do for Leonardo now was to research a way out of his pains. Splinter was offering all of the spiritual strength he could, but it wasn't enough.

"When is the last time you've slept?" a small voice asked Don on his way back to his lab. Don started, hardly realizing he'd closed himself off from the physical world as he wrapped his awareness fully into his own cognitive world.

"Oh, Lila," he greeted half-heartedly. He'd completely forgotten they'd welcomed a strange mutant-like creature into their home before Leo fell ill.

"When is the last time you've slept?" Lila asked again, though not impatiently.

"I don't know," Don said. "I don't even know what time it is now."

"You are more likely to make mistakes in this drained state," Lila observed. "You should get some rest."

Donatello felt a flash of annoyance at her. "That will do no good," he argued. "Leo needs me now. I'm fine."

Sure, Don felt the heaviness of his limbs, and the feebleness of his mind. He knew he wasn't at tip-top capacity. But he also knew that he'd pulled through problems in this kind of state before. He didn't know what was going on with his brother, and he couldn't afford to waste any time. For all he knew, Leo could potentially slip away while he took a power nap. It was an unacceptable personal excuse.

"What have you not done for Leonardo yet that you can do now?" Lila asked.

Donatello paused in his tracks. "Excuse me?"

"Need I repeat myself again?" The expression in Lila's voice was anything but impatient, as before. She added no hint of anger or frustration. Don was unused to being treated so … logically.

Don blinked, studying Lila's unreadable face. Her eyes were as innocent as Michelangelo's, staring into his own eyes with wide expectancy. Don opened his mouth as if to reply, but her question hardly had an answer. "No, you don't," he said quietly.

"Do you have an answer?" she asked.

"A cure has to exist," Donatello said with as much determination as he could muster. "I need to keep looking – researching – to figure out exactly what I can do for him. To make his pain stop and bring him back to us."

Lila nodded, as if to suggest Don should continue moving in the direction he was headed before she stopped him. Walk and discuss. "Okay. What have you found thus far?"

Don hesitated to move at first, but followed her lead. If he didn't move, she would leave the room without him. "I …" He scoured his brain for the answer to her question. She wouldn't accept anything less, or so it seemed. What exactly had he accomplished? He couldn't take away Leo's pain. He lacked the medication to do so. He couldn't bring down the fever. He was doing everything within his power to do so, and still the heat raged beneath Leo's skin. He couldn't find anything helpful online. He was trying his best, but even his ability to search for what he needed was escaping him. His concentration was shot.

Lila observed his hesitation to talk. "Do you understand what you are missing?"

"Missing?" Don repeated, confused.

"From the larger picture. You haven't yet completed the puzzle, therefore you are missing pieces to solve your problem."

Her logic was so simple, but not wrong. Donatello frowned. She was trying to help, but it was beginning to frustrate him. Did she have to point out just how useless he was in this entire situation?

"I'm missing the cure," Don told her.

"That is the first puzzle you must solve, not a missing piece."

"I don't understand."

"It is too large a picture. It a step to overcome in a two-step process. The first step is learning the cause to Leonardo's condition. The second step is to reverse the effects of his ailments. In essence, fix him. You first need to stop looking at the first step as one simple thing, and view it instead as the complex problem it is. Separate it into pieces and tackle each piece."

Donatello was at a loss for words. He found his jaw slackened as he reached the sink to rinse the towels and repeat.

"Do you still not understand?" Lila asked. She sounded entirely too calm for the situation.

"Uh, no? Yes," he amended quickly. "I understand what you're saying."

"You now look confused," she observed.

"Shocked?" Don supplied. "I don't … have … anyone to talk down to me in intellectual areas. Moral and disciplinary, sure. But …" He trailed off, no longer able to supply words to his dulled train of thought. Where did she say she came from again?

Lila nodded. "We made a game of it. Expanding our capacities. It seems you five had other, pressing priorities."

Donatello averted his eyes at this. "We were raised for revenge," he said quietly. He gripped the rag in his hands more tightly at the thought, ringing it out with a little more force than was necessary. All it accomplished was abrading the palm of his hands.

The cat-like creature cringed at this, but Donatello barely caught the reaction. "Do you understand what you are missing to solve the first puzzle?"

Donatello sighed heavily, allowing his posture to slacken and his shoulders slump. He felt no less tense. "No, I don't."

"Do you have the capacity to learn what you are missing to fill in the holes of your ignorance?"

"I don't know." He was hardly able to contain the frustration in his words. "I don't know!" he said with more force. His façade slipping away. "All I know is that while Leonardo is still alive and breathing, I can't give up on him! I cannot allow myself comforts until he is better. It doesn't matter how tired I am or how _I_ feel. My brother is in mortal danger. I'm the only one that can do a damned thing about it!"

He saw Lila take a step backwards. He saw her shrink at the ferocity in his voice. The absolute desperation. While Don had lost track of time, he was certain his family had been awake for at least an entire two days without stop, waiting for Donatello to come up with the answers. He was failing them. He wasn't good enough. If they lost Leonardo to this fever, the blame would rest entirely on Don's shoulders.

He understood Lila was trying to help him, but pressing him for answers where he had none was not helping him. He appreciated her separate point of view to help tackle the problem, but she was offering nothing new in terms of research. While her words were helpful at first, they were nearing the point of tipping Don over the bounds of his sanity.

She bowed low, her tail tucked firmly against her hind legs. "I apologize for aggravating you. I will withdraw until you seek me out." She allowed him no time to argue, and disappeared in a flash of gray fur.

Don felt like collapsing. Pressure as coming from within and without. He couldn't deal with it all. Instead, he focused on finishing the task of cleaning the towels and putting them in the freezer to later bring down Leo's temperature. After that, he would return to his research.

The lair was too quiet. No sound from the televisions, where at least one of his brothers or sensei would be camped out. There wasn't time for Splinter's soap operas or Michelangelo's video games. The dojo was empty. Leo wasn't around to practice. Raphael was too busy tending to his ill brother. While Donatello did what? What exactly was Don contributing?

He tore his eyes away from the deadened atmosphere of their home, pointing them to the ground instead. He had to do something. Anything.

Even Donatello's lab felt wrong. He sat in his computer chair, listening to its typical groan of protest at the addition of his weight. The glow from his computer was the main source of illumination in the entire room. No one was around to scold him for delving too deeply into one of his projects. That's all anyone wanted right now, was for Don to put his big brain to use.

Don fingered the keys on his keyboard, but didn't open up a browser to begin searching again. Lila argued that Donatello was looking for a cure when he should have been looking for a cause. To reverse the effects. But that wasn't what Don was working on. He was searching for a way to break the fever and preserve Leonardo's brain functions as his body burned from the inside out. It was reactionary thinking only. What exactly was causing the fever?

"A virus," Don said to himself. "I've been too busy trying to counteract the fever that I _wasn't_ looking for a cause. That _is_ my first step." He could slap himself. Lila was correct on every count and he snapped at her for it.

Cursing to himself, Don pushed the chair away, grabbed a blood kit, and rushed across the lair to Leonardo's room. Both Raphael and Splinter started at his sudden arrival.

"My son?" Splinter questioned. His eye closest to Don cracked open, studying him through his meditation.

"I just remembered something I can do," he explained. He held up the blood kit in front of him, knowing that neither Raph nor Splinter would know what the briefcase held. Striding forward, he joined Splinter on the floor in front of Leo and opened it up. Splinter closed his one open eye and resumed meditation. Raphael leaned forward to catch a better look at the contents.

Don first pulled out a hygienic wipe for the crook of Leo's elbow. Sanitizing the area, he pulled out the equipment he'd need for tests while the spot dried. "Leo, I don't know if you'll be able to feel this, but … little poke."

The possibility of breaking the brick wall they'd been backed up against excited Don. He wanted to move quickly. Start testing. Learn. But he reserved himself, following proper procedure and doing the best he could to have the blood draw feel as painless as possible for his fevered brother.

"So what's the blood for?" Raph asked.

"The goal is to use these samples to detect if it is a pathogen causing Leo's condition. If I know what's doing this to him, I have a better chance of saving him."

"What'cha been doin', then?"

Donatello cast him a sidelong glance, unamused. "Research. I've been trying to find other cases similar to Leo's online, and use those diagnosis to aide me in Leo's recovery. I haven't had any luck on that front."

Raph grunted and leaned back into the chair. His arms were folded across his plastron.

"An acceptable enough answer for you?" Don asked snidely.

He could sense Raph chewing on his words. The turtle, fortunately, didn't seem to possess the strength to be as bristly as he normally was. "I think Leo fell asleep. I don't have anythin' new since the last time you were in here. It ain't been long. But it's been quiet. No whisperin' or nothin'."

Don nodded. "Rest will do him good," he said. "How long has it been since he's woken from the sedatives?" He really needed to start paying attention to the time frame.

"Well, that was early mornin'. And it's tomorrow now." Raph gestured toward the simple alarm clock Leo had in his room.

"It's never tomorrow," Don sighed. "But thank-you. I haven't thought to keep my eye on the clock." He stood up and packed the blood kit back up to transport back to his lab. "I'll look around my lab and see what I can find to help keep his pain levels down when he wakes back up. I'm not very optimistic about it. I don't normally have a whole lot of that on hand. I will need to find fluids for him." He eyed the untouched glass sitting next to the alarm clock. "I probably should have done that a lot sooner."

"Do not bear grudge against yourself for it, my son," Master Splinter said, his eyes still closed. "Simply learn from your mistake and correct it."

"Yes, Master Splinter," Don said with a respectful bow. "I'll be back shortly."


	4. Chapter 4

With the fate of one brother up in the air, time didn't move like it should. The three remaining brothers kept their eyes glued on the clock, watching it progress forward sluggishly. Despite Donatello's and Splinter's attempts, Leonardo was not getting any better.

"Yo, Donnie?" Mikey asked from the doorway of Don's lab. Don looked up blearily from the screen of his computer. Leo's fever had been running rampant for three days, and no one in the family had slept since he'd fallen. Raph and Don weren't sure exactly what Mikey was doing with his time, but he looked as haggard as them.

"Yeah, Mikey?"

"Raph wanted me to tell you that Leo's, um, well, not asleep anymore."

Don nodded with a sigh. He didn't have any pain medication. Absolutely nothing outside of pill form, and Leo wasn't eating solids. They couldn't feed him. They couldn't get him to drink. He was beyond that level of consciousness. Donatello had hooked him up to an IV, but even his stash of saline solution was incredibly low. He didn't have much left.

"Thanks, Mikey." He slumped forward, expecting Mikey to leave him now that his message had been relayed. Donatello's lab. A place of solitude. No one dared mess with him while he occupied its walls.

Donatello had pinpointed the cause of Leonardo's affliction through the blood work. That was, he found the abnormality. He didn't know what it was, and as far as he could tell, no one else in the world had seen it before, either. It was an anomaly. Undefinable. He'd hoped for a minute that he'd be able to solve the mystery and bring his brother back, but now he was slipping into despair.

"Donnie?"

Don jerked back into a complete sitting position, belatedly focusing on Michelangelo's unmoving form. So he didn't leave. "Is there something else?" Don asked.

Mikey hesitated a moment. "Not really. Just … we believe in you. And don't blame you, okay?"

"It's not a good time, Mikey," Don sighed.

"We've been awake for, like, five days, dude. You're still doing the heavy work over here. I'm seeing hallucinations at this point, but it's better being awake than asleep…." He visibly shook himself. "Anyway, I just figured you needed to hear something, instead of being all alone down here."

Don blinked. "Five days?"

Mikey shrugged. "Close enough. You know Raph hasn't moved this entire time? Like, I have to bring him food and water and stuff. I haven't seen him leave to go to the bathroom. He's just … sitting there. Watching Leo. Making sure he's gonna be alright." He pulled away from the doorway. "But, uh, think you can check in on Leo for Raph, Donnie? Me and Raph, we don't know what we're doing."

"Yeah, I'll be right there," Don told him. Don watched with glassy eyes as Michelangelo slowly crossed the lair back to Leo's room. Five days. That would explain why he was having difficulty passing a single thought through his mind and why it was such a chore to move. He couldn't take it anymore, yet he wasn't even capable of passing out unintentionally.

Pushing himself out of his chair, Don held himself steady for a moment before letting go of the table he used to stand with. He reached for his medical kit, checking through the contents to make sure everything he needed was there, and slowly followed Mikey's path.

Donatello could tell something was different from the moment he walked into Leo's room. Splinter was still in meditation on the floor, Raphael was still half-conscious on the chair, and Michelangelo was standing off to the side. Nothing about them had changed at all. Leonardo was still under the covers, laying in his bed. But he had a spark of life in his open eyes.

"Leo?" Don asked. He registered the muscles twitch across Leo's face, though the turtle didn't answer.

"I see Mikey got the message to ya," Raphael commented from his seat.

"Yes," Don said softly. "Thank-you for getting me." He crouched down and opened up his medical kit. The first thing he grabbed was the thermometer. The time felt like it was moving even slower than before. Every second, waiting for the temperature get back to him, felt like an eternity. When he finally could read the temp, he could barely stay upright from the head rush. He felt Mikey's hands on his shoulders keeping him steady.

"Donnie," he said with a little urgency to his voice.

"Good news," Don said quickly. "Good news. His fever's finally broke." He moved on to checking his other vitals. All the while, Leo's eyes followed his movements, but he remained silent.

Finished with the check-up, Donatello stood up. "I need to input this information before I forget it. Which is highly possible at the moment. I'll be right back, I promise." His movements were slow, but carried out with renewed vigor.

"Leo, can you talk to us?" Mikey asked tentatively.

Leo opened his mouth, as if to speak, but no words came out.

"Reserve your strength, my son," Splinter cautioned from his meditation. "Put your focus into healing. We will reunite later."

Raphael stood up. "I'm gonna go get a fresh glass of water for him. Mikey, keep an eye on him."

"Do I get your big boy chair?" Mikey asked.

Raph answered with a snarl and roll of his eyes as he exited the room, but with no words. Mikey took it as his cue to take the chair. Not because he wanted to sit, but because it would annoy Raph. Excitement finally gnawed at his insides, but Mikey didn't allow it a way out. He held back. Leo already looked like he was a little overwhelmed, and Mikey did not need a sleep deprived Donatello breathing down his neck.

Leo didn't do much while Raph and Don were gone. He didn't try to sit up. He didn't try to talk. Perhaps he was taking Splinter's advice to heart, but even Leo wasn't the best at recovering gracefully. All four of the brothers wanted to immediately get back on their feet and forge forward after taking a heavy hit. His eyes were open. Didn't that mean he was getting better?

Don was the first to return. A large smile graced his face once his eyes swept over Leo again. Seeing was believing, after all. "Hey Leo, may I ask you a few questions?" Leonardo simply stared back at him. Don's smile wavered for a moment. "Okay. Uh. How are you feeling?"

Leo continued to stare for a moment, but eventually opened his mouth to respond. Mikey leaned forward anxiously. It took Leo a couple times to test his voice, but he did manage to force a few words out after those tries. "Not well. Still a big … headache. Thirsty."

Don nodded eagerly. "Raph went to get water. He should be back any second."

"Behind ya," Raph said, as if on cue.

"Do you need help sitting up?" Don asked, sidestepping to let Raph by.

"No," Leo said. He was rather quick to those words.

Raph and Don exchanged a glance. Looking back to Leo, he softened his voice further. "I have you hooked up to an IV right now, so it's not absolutely necessary that you drink, but it would be encouraging. I'd like to see you keep it down. Are you feeling nauseated?"

"Not really," Leo responded.

"Good. I, uh, kind of need to pass out soon. Like, really soon. Your vitals are almost back to normal. I promise we'll get food in you soon."

Michelangelo jumped to his feet. "Anything you want, bro! The kitchen's open!"

"What's the pain level on your headache?" Don asked.

"I … don't know."

"Level one, just a minor irritant. Level ten, you feel like you're going to die."

Raph snorted. "I think he's been at a ten all week."

Donatello hushed him with a sharp look.

"It's not that bad. A … three?"

Don nodded. "Alright. Uh … I think that's it." He turned to Splinter. "Sensei?"

"My son," Splinter acknowledged without moving.

"Any objection to me passing out?"

"I will fetch you if his condition changes," Splinter said softly. "Sleep, my son."

"Are you sure? You've been awake as long as all of us."

A smile passed over Splinter's lips. "I am sure. It is about time you take care of yourself."

"I'm not tired!" Michelangelo yelled happily. "What ya feel like eating, Leo? You know, we have a few quick soups I can whip up. Eggs? Yeah, I'm a master at breakfast food. Pizza?"

"No," Splinter injected sharply. "Healthy foods."

Don couldn't help the wane smile as he exited the room and nearly stumbled to his own.

"I don't … I don't know," Leo said. He almost sounded frustrated. Struggling, he pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning heavily on the wall at the head of his bed. Raph watched him closely as he moved, but didn't offer help unless asked. Leo had his pride as much as anyone.

"You want me to just whip something up? Whatever I feel like once I'm in the kitchen?"

"Yeah, sure," Leo said. His voice was clipped, but not tight, as if in pain.

"Yeah, okay," Mikey said, as enthusiastic as ever. "I'll be right back, then."

"Healthy foods!" Splinter called after him.

"Leo? You okay, bro?" Raph asked after Mikey was out of earshot. Leo didn't like to burden Donatello and Michelangelo so much, but sometimes leaned on Raphael when something was big. When they weren't in the middle of a feud, that was.

"No."

This prompted Splinter to open his eyes. He was certain he was picking up on the energy Leo was giving off as much as Raph.

"What's the matter?" Raph asked.

"What … happened?"

Raph's brows crunched together. "Well, we were fightin' the Foot. They ambushed us on one of our runs. It wasn't much different than normal. There weren't really a lot of 'em, they weren't any better than normal. But you went down, and they all disappeared. Don and me had ta carry ya back." Raph glanced down at Splinter. "Don says you were under a sedative or somethin', but once it wore off … you ah…. We had ta keep ya from burnin' up ta death, Leo. Donnie's been workin' days non-stop ta get ya back to us."

Leo studied Raphael's uneasy expression with a certain intensity. The stare may have caused uneasiness in either of the other brothers, but Raph was used to it. He looked back calmly as calmly as he could, trying to gauge his brother's state of mind. Leo wasn't making it easy.

"What? Not good enough for ya? Need more details, or it sparkin' a memory?" Raph tried to keep the belligerence out of his voice, but it wasn't exactly his strong suit. Anger was the first line of defense for the turtle. Something didn't feel right about the situation, but he didn't know what was wrong.

"Raphael," Splinter warned in a quiet voice.

"Sorry, Master Splinter," Raph apologized.

Leo continued his study of Raphael's face for a moment before finally replying to one of his questions. "No more details are necessary. I simply can't remember any of the events leading up to now."

"My son, you need more sleep and time to recover. It is too early for you to be moving and worrying about what you cannot fix," Splinter said. "And Raphael, you need rest as well. I will continue to sit here and meditate."

"I don't –"

"Raphael," Splinter said, just loud enough to cut Raph off. "Go to sleep. Now."

Raph looked between Leo and Splinter. Leo was still fixated on Raph, staring at him with unblinking eyes. Maybe he was starting to give Raph the creeps. Splinter still had his eyes open, but he hadn't moved from his meditative position on the floor.

"And Mikey?"

"I will tell him the same thing when he gets back," Splinter said.

Raph grumbled unintelligible words to himself as he danced from one foot to the other. Sleep was incredibly tempting, but it didn't feel right to leave Splinter alone. He hadn't slept just as long as any of the brothers. He finally decided to follow directions without a fuss for once, and left the room with a mumbled departing goodbye. Leo's eyes tracked him until he was completely out of sight.

"Is something the matter, my son?" Splinter asked him.

Leo hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "No, Master Splinter. You're right. I just need rest." He settled down a little lower in his bed. "I'll wait first for the mystery food so as not to disappoint … ah, him, but rest is my best option."

He reached out to the glass that Raphael had left behind, testing its weight in his hand completely before pulling it in front of him. He simply clutched it before him for a while before slowly drinking. The liquid in his throat was a good feeling. Even though Donatello had told him that he wouldn't die of dehydration, the fever had taken a lot out of him. He still felt dry and incomplete. Drained. He even felt tired after being asleep for so many days.

Splinter slowly drifted back into meditation.

Leonardo let the silence extend. His room light was still on. It probably hadn't been turned off since he was deposited into his room. That was, if Raphael had been telling the truth about the whole matter before Leo had woken up. Leo had a feeling that if they had been fighting, and he dropped without warning, he'd have a mark on his body. He felt bed sore, but nothing screamed a miserable pain to him. Not like before, at least. He couldn't remember a lot before waking up this time, but he could remember pain.

Every so often, a voice would drift up from outside of Leo's room. Mikey's voice. The turtle cooking him up some mysterious healthy meal. Leo wasn't entirely sure if he was hungry, but the guy had been so excited. He couldn't let him down. It sounded as if he was having a conversation with someone, though he couldn't pick out the words.

He came along alone to deliver the food. If he had been talking to someone, and not just himself, that someone hadn't tagged along to visit Leo. Mikey presented the food with as much enthusiasm as before.

"So I kinda figured that your stomach was probably still a little upset and all, since you were so sick. I really hate when I feel like that, and all the normal foods like pizza make you feel even worse. So I made you some toast. Buttered it up a little. Just enough to give it a little extra flavor if ya want. And an instant soup. It's not something from scratch made with a whole lot of love like normal, but I figured you wanted food now instead of, like, three days from now.

"Gotta say, I don't think I could even last another day to make a real soup. I found out when I switched off the light in the kitchen that I was talking to a chair the whole time. Funny thing, the chair as talking back to me. I don't even know what we were talking about anymore."

Mikey finally placed the platter with a bowl and few pieces of toast on Leo's lap. His monologue wasn't long, considering how fast the turtle spoke, but it was enough to make Leo's head spin.

"Michelangelo," Splinter called with his eyes closed. "You may go to sleep."

"You're sure, Master Splinter? Like, I could probably still go for a personal record at this point. I don't even think Donnie could beat me anymore. I feel all sorts of alive."

"You were talking to a chair, my son."

"Well, it was talking to me first."

"I don't think I need to explain further," Splinter said. "Go to sleep."

Ignoring Splinter's demands, Mikey suddenly looked around the room as if he'd lost something. "Yo, where'd Raph go? He didn't take his chair back?"

"He went to sleep, Michelangelo. As should you." When Mikey still failed to move, Splinter added in a harsher voice, "Now."

"Yes, Master Splinter," Mikey conceded with a sigh. He left the room with a slumped posture.

Leo watched Mikey leave with bewilderment. Everyone appeared to be at wits end except for Master Splinter, calmly meditating in the middle of Leo's floor.

Leo ate slowly and delicately, making sure the food didn't disrupt his stomach. He wasn't feeling nauseated, but then again, he wasn't feeling tip-top either. Questions burned in his mind and his uneasiness grew as time went on. A part of him felt that he should bring it up with the rat in front of him, but a larger part told him to keep his problems to himself and quit burdening those that helped him with even more problems.

To his surprise, Leo found room in his stomach to eat everything Mikey had brought for him. He'd shut his thoughts off as he ate to keep from overwhelming himself, but it also meant that he wasn't paying much attention to the food in front of him either. Leo spared a glance at Master Splinter before shoveling the platter next to the half emptied glass of water on his nightstand. Master Splinter would not be happy with him if he had tried anything else.

Then, true to his word, Leo settled back under the covers into his bed to rest. Sleep came easily to him. For the first time in nearly a week, it wasn't fitful, but finally peaceful.


End file.
